CLASSROOM EARTH
While in the field, we searched for Mima Mounds with plenti- ful Coast Mole or Mazama Pocket Gopher mounds: this recent bioturbation enables us to sample material brought up from within the Mima Mounds. We also studied each tree-throw we could find on the fringes of the prairies. While I mapped curious cobbles and boulders common in some intermounds, we conducted point counts of the underlying coarse-bedded gravels and in the cross section of one mound at the DNR pit at Mima Prairie, we collected well over several hundred samples of gravel. After finishing with our soil samples and with numerous intriguing questions begging for further investigation, it was time to make some sense of our data and report our findings.
Conferences: Taking It to a New Level
Though Centralia College’s annual Capstone Symposium for undergraduate research in June had been cancelled, we reported our preliminary results in a poster for the Centralia College Foundation, which had helped fund our research with a small grant (Pope et al, 2020b). We found that Cascade Range andesite comprised 44% of the mound pebbles at Mima Prairie and 40% of clasts in the underlying gravels, not only supporting a debris flow origin of the Mima Mound diamicton but also suggesting that the underlying gravels had been pro- duced by an earlier water-based phase of the Tanwax flood. We continued our studies into August and completed an abstract for Geological Society of America 2020 annual meeting (Pope et al., 2020a).
While we awaited an answer on our GSA abstract, my attention turned to the upcoming virtual annual meeting of the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists (AEG). I prepared to present my two accepted abstracts: a poster presentation on the poorly sorted terrace deposits along the Cispus River and an oral presentation on how six applied geoscience disciplines are represented at the Cascade Range volcanoes (see Pope, 2020a and Pope, 2020b). August came and went, our GSA abstract was accepted, and before I knew it the AEG meeting had arrived – my first scientific conference just around the corner! I nervously prepared for the conference, but soon I was prepared (in writing but not mentally!) to present to some of the greatest geologists I had met. Thankfully, my oral presentation was graciously received, and my poster tied for second place in the poster competition. After meeting a number of excellent geologists and future leaders of the dis- cipline, I finished the final preparations for another exciting presentation at GSA 2020.
Retrospective: Perseverance in Adversity
Over the course of the year, I have found 2020 to be the most tumultuous yet most exciting year in my learning experience. It has been tumultuous through the unwavering surprises of the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters, yet in my personal studies I have also found it to be the most exciting. I have gained experience both in the field and in presenting at scientific conferences, but more importantly I have discovered the keys to success. As useful as they are, resources online, at the college library, or even in the laboratory, may be abruptly terminated, as we saw during the pandemic in the case of libraries and laboratories. Instead, it is the gift of persever- ance in adversity––the ability to think clearly and creatively to overcome any challenge, be it in one’s personal life or in the global community. While much more study is needed to answer
18 TPG •
Jan.Feb.Mar 2021
questions raised by my studies over the year, I am confident that I have learned some of the skills needed to dive deeper into the subject. After all, with that internal “grit”, what chal- lenge cannot be overcome?
About the Author
Writing from Western Washington, Isaac Pope is a seventeen- year-old undergraduate student with an insatiable fascination for geoscience, conducting this research as an underage enroll- ment student (age sixteen and below) at Centralia College. In addition to his field work, Isaac has studied numerous books ranging from graduate to professional level on geoscience and mathematics, which contributed to him beginning his college studies at the age of fourteen. With publications in peer-reviewed journals, he has not only conducted much university-level research, but he is also greatly involved in education, an interest stemming from his desire to share the wonder of science and mathematics with others. Isaac’s poster entitled “Poorly Sorted Terrace Deposits of the Cispus Valley: Glacial Drift or Mount Adams Lahar?” tied for second place in the student poster competition held during AEG’s 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting, and Isaac is a Junior Candidate Fellow of the Geological Society of London.
Appendix
With the worldwide web at the fingertips of so many individu- als, the accessibility of scientific research products has never been greater, yet their number and variety make some research more difficult to retrieve than others. Combined with your local public or academic library, the following online resources are a few of the many that should help you access most if not all the literature necessary for your research.
Free Article Access
ResearchGate (
researchgate.net) – free platform for academics to post, search, and discuss research products.
Academia (
academia.edu) – free platform for academics to post, search, and discuss research products with some plugins requiring a paid subscription.
Mendeley (
mendeley.com) – free platform for academics to post, search, and discuss research products, particularly those associated with Elsevier publications.
USGS Publication Warehouse (
pubs.er.usgs.gov) – extensive collection of research items produced by members of the US Geological Survey.
Searchable Article Archives
Scinapse (
scinapse.io) – searchable article database containing bibliographical details, official webpages, and occasionally PDF versions of the article.
Google Scholar (
scholar.google.com) – searchable article data- base containing bibliographical details, official webpages, and links to PDF versions of the article when available.
Map Databases
National Geologic Map Database (
ngmdb.usgs.gov) – major database of national and state maps produced by a variety of entities including the US Geological Survey and state geological surveys, among others.
Organization Memberships
Geological Society of America (
geosociety.org) – largest single geological society in North America publishing some of the most influential journals on geoscience.
www.aipg.org
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